Politics

Clinton and Aides Lay Plans to Repair a Battered Image

By RICHARD L. BERKE

Published: December 21, 2001

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 — Even after Bill Clinton was elected president, his campaigning never seemed to stop. In the White House, he was always keenly attentive to polls and political calculations and presided over what became known as a "permanent campaign."

Now, Mr. Clinton is trying to extend the permanent campaign even beyond his presidency.

Frustrated that his image has been battered since he left office, Mr. Clinton summoned several of his aides and advisers on Wednesday to devise ways to remind the public of his accomplishments and defend his legacy against criticism on matters including his role in the current recession and his failure to strike a fatal blow against Osama bin Laden or his terrorist network after the embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998.

Several participants at the meeting in Mr. Clinton's Harlem office said in interviews that they had agreed to compile a list of the Clinton administration's achievements that his supporters could have handy when defending the president. They hope to build a staff that will coordinate efforts to enlist former cabinet secretaries and other Clinton surrogates to appear on television talk shows and deliver speeches. And they are making plans to raise Mr. Clinton's profile on the lecture circuit, particularly before college audiences, which are most receptive.

Participants in the session said Mr. Clinton was concerned that Democratic leaders had not sufficiently spoken up for his administration, especially his centrist policies on health care, welfare, crime and education. As part of the campaign to refurbish his image, Mr. Clinton wants to play a central role in setting an issue agenda for the Democrats and for the party's aspiring Congressional and presidential candidates, his advisers said.

No modern president has ever mounted such an aggressive and organized drive to affect the agenda after leaving the White House.

"It's important that the president's legacy not be squandered because his own people remain silent and scattered," said Bill Richardson, Mr. Clinton's energy secretary, who like many others took part through a telephone hookup. "It's important that the Democratic Party not turn away from Clinton's centrist legacy that brought us economic prosperity."

Several participants said they did not want to discuss the meeting out of respect for Mr. Clinton's privacy. Others also acknowledged that they were worried that Mr. Clinton could be portrayed as preoccupied with his reputation and not conducting himself appropriately for a former president.

"I feel very uncomfortable talking about these meetings," said Sandy Berger, Mr. Clinton's former national security adviser.

"As far as I'm concerned, it was a private meeting, so I'm not going to say anything," said Al From, the chief executive of the Democratic Leadership Council.

Others, insisting they had nothing to hide, were not so reluctant.

Rodney Slater, Mr. Clinton's transportation secretary, said an impetus for the meeting was to make sure that the former president's policies were still in the public discourse.

"As much as anything, it was to recognize that we were part of something special," Mr. Slater said, "that there were still opportunities out there for us to express opinions about things and professional judgments."

Douglas Sosnik, who was Mr. Clinton's political director and later one of his most senior aides, put it this way: "Under President Clinton's leadership, we accomplished a remarkable amount in the last eight years, and his friends feel we should be doing a better job of getting that out proactively. Since he left office, we've spent too much time on the defensive, reacting to stories."

Gene Sperling, who was Mr. Clinton's top economic aide, said, "Most of the conversation was really about what kind of things he should be doing with his time, what his long- term service contributions should be."

Julia Payne, Mr. Clinton's spokeswoman, said she would have no comment about "a private meeting."

While Mr. Clinton had held meetings with advisers before, participants described this one as having a special urgency.

Mr. Clinton dominated the session, which lasted nearly two hours, participants said. They said he was careful not to criticize President Bush. And they said that while he expressed concern that he was being blamed for not catching Osama bin Laden, most of the discussion was about how to raise his profile and press his case on domestic matters.

Even during his presidency, Mr. Clinton was deeply interested in how he would be perceived by history. Now, the efforts to deploy surrogates to speak out for him are reminiscent of his vaunted war rooms in the White House, which were established for him to seize the political offensive on matters that included Whitewater and health care.

"He basically said our legacy is being pummeled and we have to find ways to revive it," said one participant, who described it as if it were a meeting of the top lieutenants of a political campaign. "We concluded that the Clinton hard core were not on message, and we had to develop a center of gravity. We have to remind people of what we did on the economy, what we did with the crime bill, what we did with terrorism." He added, "They're trying to pin the bin Laden thing on us."

Participants said that while some nice things were said about the Democratic leaders in Congress, Senator Tom Daschle and Representative Richard A. Gephardt, there was a view that they would only do so much to press the Clinton agenda. "The view was that House and Senate Democrats were too preoccupied with their own re-elections and their own deals," one participant said.

Other participants included Maggie Williams, Mr. Clinton's current chief of staff; John D. Podesta, Mr. Clinton's former chief of staff; Bruce Lindsey, Mr. Clinton confidant; Eli J. Segal, the former head of Mr. Clinton's national service organization; Steve Richetti, who was a deputy chief of staff; Maria Echavesta, a former deputy chief of staff; and Cheryl Mills, a deputy White House counsel. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York did not take part, nor did former Vice President Al Gore or any of his advisers.

Mr. Clinton's advisers said part of the discussion was over how active the former president should be in stumping for Democratic candidates next year. They said they had not reached a determination.

"He does not want to appear to be upstaging Bush," said one participant. "But the alternative to that is to continue to see his legacy vanish. Clinton said he was getting more of a positive response about his legacy with younger people."

Mr. Richardson, for one, said it was appropriate for Mr. Clinton to have a more public role.

"I'm pleased that the president will be more active in ensuring his legacy," he said.